Posted by jmhreh on January 25, 2009, 2:40 pm
I'm posting from Google on a laptop, as my regular computer seems to
have crashed. I was browsing the local newspaper on line and tried to
go back to the previous page, and it froze. Cont/alt/delete would not
bring up the running processes menu. I shut it off for a while and
turned it back on. It started normally, then went to just a cursor on
a black screen. I can't even get it to boot from safe mode. Does
this sound like a hardware problem? I'm very careful about not
getting viruses. This computer is only 14 mo. old, although that
really doesn't make any difference, does it? Any suggestions?
Marsha/Ohio (not real computer savvy)
Posted by Rod Speed on January 25, 2009, 3:01 pm
jmhreh@yahoo.com wrote:
> I'm posting from Google on a laptop, as my regular computer seems
> to have crashed. I was browsing the local newspaper on line and tried
> to go back to the previous page, and it froze. Cont/alt/delete would not
> bring up the running processes menu. I shut it off for a while and
> turned it back on. It started normally, then went to just a cursor on
> a black screen. I can't even get it to boot from safe mode. Does
> this sound like a hardware problem?
Yes, but that isnt the only possibility.
> I'm very careful about not getting viruses.
Its not the sort of symptom thats very common with a virus.
> This computer is only 14 mo. old, although that
> really doesn't make any difference, does it?
It does make some difference, but you can still get hardware failures that early.
> Any suggestions?
If its still under warranty, get it fixed under warranty.
> Marsha/Ohio (not real computer savvy)
If its not under warranty, you had better get someone who is to have a look at
it.
Posted by Dave on January 25, 2009, 3:05 pm
> I'm posting from Google on a laptop, as my regular computer seems to
> have crashed. I was browsing the local newspaper on line and tried to
> go back to the previous page, and it froze. Cont/alt/delete would not
> bring up the running processes menu. I shut it off for a while and
> turned it back on. It started normally, then went to just a cursor on
> a black screen. I can't even get it to boot from safe mode. Does
> this sound like a hardware problem? I'm very careful about not
> getting viruses. This computer is only 14 mo. old, although that
> really doesn't make any difference, does it? Any suggestions?
> Marsha/Ohio (not real computer savvy)
OK, we need a lot more information to help you. First, what type of
computer is it? Exact make and model number. If custom built, we need
exact make and model number of motherboard and power supply. What operating
system is it running? How, exactly, do you connect to the Internet?
Dial-up modem? Cable modem? DSL? If you have a high speed Internet
connection, how, EXACTLY is that Internet connection attached to your
computer? Is it Ethernet cable? USB? Wireless? Does it connect directly
to a cable modem / dsl modem, or does it run through a router?
More importantly... we need to know after it was shut off for a while and
you turned it back on, what do you mean by "it started normall"? Did you
get to Windows? Were you able to log into windows? Did windows start at
all, or did you just see BIOS splash screens (hard drives listed, memory
tested), and then go straight to a cursor on a black screen? When you got
the cursor on the black screen, where was it? Lower left? Upper Left?
What did it look like? Square? Bar? Did you try to type anything at the
cursor?
Way too vague of a description to even start to guess, but from what little
you provided, I'd say it's some kind of hardware problem. Need more
information to narrow it down further:
1) Shut down and unplug your computer (from the wall)
2) Unplug your Internet connection from the back of the computer. I don't
care whether it is a normal modem or ethernet cable, whatever... unplug it.
3) Now plug your computer back in. Before you do anything else sit down,
take a deep breath, relax and prepare to concentrate on what, exactly, the
computer does.
4) Turn the computer on, while watching and listening. Do you hear a beep?
Do you hear more than one beep? What, EXACTLY is displayed on the screen?
Describe every screen that pops up. What is displayed on each screen that
pops up? -Dave
Posted by Marsha on January 25, 2009, 5:05 pm
Okay, my motto is panic first and think later. I put the system disk(?)
in and finally figured out how to boot from that. There were 5 options,
1 of which was check memory, which I did first. No memory problems, but
when it re-started, everything was fine. So even though things are okay
now, I want to know what happened. I'll try to answer in line as much
as I can remember when the problem was still there.
Dave wrote:
> OK, we need a lot more information to help you. First, what type of
> computer is it? Exact make and model number.
Dell Inspiron 530, bought new 14 months ago.
> What operating system is it running?
Windows Vista Home Premium
> How, exactly, do you connect to the Internet?
> Dial-up modem? Cable modem? DSL? If you have a high speed Internet
> connection, how, EXACTLY is that Internet connection attached to your
> computer? Is it Ethernet cable? USB? Wireless? Does it connect directly
> to a cable modem / dsl modem, or does it run through a router?
Cable modem. Router. Wired. I unhooked it from cable and it still
wouldn't boot, though.
> More importantly... we need to know after it was shut off for a while and
> you turned it back on, what do you mean by "it started normall"? Did you
> get to Windows? Were you able to log into windows? Did windows start at
> all, or did you just see BIOS splash screens (hard drives listed, memory
> tested), and then go straight to a cursor on a black screen? When you got
> the cursor on the black screen, where was it? Lower left? Upper Left?
> What did it look like? Square? Bar? Did you try to type anything at the
> cursor?
It did not get to Windows. Got 1 beep (I think) and some words flashed
very quickly in the upper left (too fast to even get one word). Then
the cursor in the upper left - bar. Almost like the old DOS screen.
This all took place in about 10 seconds after starting it. Pressed a
couple keys, but nothing happened.
My virus and adware programs found nothing. I haven't loaded any new
software in the last couple weeks, but would it be a good idea do the
back restore thing to maybe a week or so ago?
Marsha/Ohio
Posted by im.1.maxaluminum on January 25, 2009, 5:39 pm
> Okay, my motto is panic first and think later. I put the system disk(?)
> in and finally figured out how to boot from that. There were 5 options,
> 1 of which was check memory, which I did first. No memory problems, but
> when it re-started, everything was fine. So even though things are okay
> now, I want to know what happened. I'll try to answer in line as much
> as I can remember when the problem was still there.
> Dave wrote:
> > OK, we need a lot more information to help you. First, what type of
> > computer is it? Exact make and model number.
> Dell Inspiron 530, bought new 14 months ago.
> > What operating system is it running?
> Windows Vista Home Premium
> > How, exactly, do you connect to the Internet?
> > Dial-up modem? Cable modem? DSL? If you have a high speed Internet
> > connection, how, EXACTLY is that Internet connection attached to your
> > computer? Is it Ethernet cable? USB? Wireless? Does it connect directly
> > to a cable modem / dsl modem, or does it run through a router?
> Cable modem. Router. Wired. I unhooked it from cable and it still
> wouldn't boot, though.
> > More importantly... we need to know after it was shut off for a while and
> > you turned it back on, what do you mean by "it started normall"? Did you
> > get to Windows? Were you able to log into windows? Did windows start at
> > all, or did you just see BIOS splash screens (hard drives listed, memory
> > tested), and then go straight to a cursor on a black screen? When you got
> > the cursor on the black screen, where was it? Lower left? Upper Left?
> > What did it look like? Square? Bar? Did you try to type anything at the
> > cursor?
> It did not get to Windows. Got 1 beep (I think) and some words flashed
> very quickly in the upper left (too fast to even get one word). Then
> the cursor in the upper left - bar. Almost like the old DOS screen.
> This all took place in about 10 seconds after starting it. Pressed a
> couple keys, but nothing happened.
> My virus and adware programs found nothing. I haven't loaded any new
> software in the last couple weeks, but would it be a good idea do the
> back restore thing to maybe a week or so ago?
> Marsha/Ohio
As earlier stated, there are so many possibilities.
If you could operate it with the cover off, you could feel whether the
hard drive was running. You could listen for it too even with the
cover on. I would start by removing and replacing the power and data
cable to the hard drive for openers. If you had any recovery disk at
all, you could put that in and it might reveal whether there was a
hard drive recognized. I use Power Quest so I can check a drive
without starting Windoze.
You should have a quick flash on the screen as to the F key used to
set up the bios. If you don't see it, keep restarting and holding each
F key in turn until you get something. If the motherboard is
functioning and you get in there, you will have options that will
reveal some things about the hard drive.
Even if your hard drive were dead, you should see a message saying
either "NO OPERATING SYSTEM" or "INVALID DRIVE."
Hold down the F keys, find the bios or safe mode and go from there.
XML site map
> to have crashed. I was browsing the local newspaper on line and tried
> to go back to the previous page, and it froze. Cont/alt/delete would not
> bring up the running processes menu. I shut it off for a while and
> turned it back on. It started normally, then went to just a cursor on
> a black screen. I can't even get it to boot from safe mode. Does
> this sound like a hardware problem?